Essay Patriotism Quotes For Kids

And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

— John F Kennedy, Inauguration Address: January 20, 1961

The great fundamental issue now before the Republican party and before our people can be stated briefly. It is: Are the American people fit to govern themselves, to rule themselves, to control themselves? I believe they are.

— Theodore Roosevelt, The Right of the People to Rule: March 20, 1912

Yours is the profession of arms, the will to win, the sure knowledge that in war there is no substitute for victory; that if you lose, the nation will be destroyed; that the very obsession of your public service must be: Duty, Honor, Country.

— Douglas MacArthur, Duty, Honor, Country: May 12, 1962

This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure, as it has endured, will revive and will prosper.

— Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address: March 4, 1933

The name of american, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

— Patrick Henry, Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death: March 23, 1775

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

— John F. Kennedy, The Decision to Go to the Moon: May 25, 1961

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

This nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

— Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address: November 19, 1863

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

— Dr Martin Luther King Jr, I Have a Dream: August 23, 1968

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

— Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence: July 4, 1776

National honor is national property of the highest value.

— James Monroe, First Inaugural Address: March 4, 1817

Yet America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Poet” Essays Second Series: 1844

America is a passionate idea or it is nothing. America is a human brotherhood or it is chaos.

— Max Lerner, Actions and Passions: 1949

All we have of freedom, all we use or know – This our fathers bought for us long and long ago.

— Rudyard Kipling, The Old Issue: 1899

We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

— Barack Obama, One Voice Can Change a Room: December 9, 2007

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he live. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.

— Abraham Lincoln

America is a tune. It must be sung together.

— Gerald Stanley Lee, Crowds – A Moving-Picture of Democracy: 1913

We can’t all be Washington’s, but we can all be patriots.

— Charles F. Browne (Artemus Ward), 1860s

What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom “to” and freedom “from.”

— Marilyn vos Savant, Parade (Ask Marilyn): July 17, 2005

Patriotism… is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.

— Adlai Stevenson, American Legion Convention Speech: August 27, 1952

A man’s country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle; and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.

Patriotism is easy to understand in America; it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country.

— Calvin Coolidge, The Destiny of America: May 30, 1923

I think patriotism is like charity – it begins at home.

— Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady Volume 1: 1880

A thoughtful mind, when it sees a Nation’s flag, sees not the flag only, but the Nation itself; and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag the Government, the principles, the truths, the history which belongs to the Nation that sets it forth.

— Henry Ward Beecher, The American Flag: 1861

Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as liberty without freedom of speech.

— Benjamin Franklin, Dogwood Papers: 1722

The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.

— Thomas Jefferson, Summary View of the Rights of British America: July 1774

There are those, I know, who will say that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind, is nothing but a dream. They are right. It is the American dream.

— Archibald MacLeish, 1960

We are as great as our belief in human liberty – no greater. And our belief in human liberty is only ours when it is larger than ourselves.

— Archibald MacLeish, Now Let Us Address the Main Question: Bicentennial of What?, New York Times: July 3, 1976

Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.

— John Quincy Adams

We need an America with the wisdom of experience. But we must not let America grow old in spirit.

— Hubert H. Humphrey

The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people.

— Woodrow Wilson

Some inspirational thoughts about liberty from great Americans to help you celebrate.

Erma Bombeck was a journalist and author whose career took off during the 1960s as she was working and raising three children.

Known for her keen wit and ability to find humor in her everyday experiences as a mother and wife, Bombeck had this to say about Independence Day:

“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is just patriotism.”

Hot dogs and sparklers

There are lots of other images that come to mind when we think about 4th of July celebrations: the smell of hot dogs on the grill, children waving sparklers or bicycles decorated with red, white and blue crepe paper.

To help you celebrate the precious gift of liberty, here are some inspiring thoughts from a few great Americans.